Friday, January 28, 2011

Guest Post by Sam Torode

As I've mentioned many times, I get a lot of email. Though I can't respond to it all, I do read it all. Some of it is fan mail, but an increasing percentage of it is from writers either asking for help on ebooks or telling me how well they're doing.

This email came a few days ago from a writer I don't know.

Dear JA,

My self-pubbed humorous novel, "The Dirty Parts of the Bible," just passed 5,500 Kindle sales for this month and is ranked at #70 in the Kindle store. I'm still in shock, and don't know how long it will take for this to sink in...

How to sum of the years of disappointment and bitterness trying to get traditionally published? I spent 3 years writing and honing the book, and it was the most satisfying creative project I'd ever worked on. The 2 years that followed, trying to sell the manuscript, were like tossing my heart into a meat grinder. It was rejected by over 100 publishers, from every big house in NY to small presses in Texas (where most of the book is set). I did manage to get an excellent NY agent who shopped it for a year, but to no avail. The real killer was when an editor at Penguin said she loved it, but the Penguin *marketing department* shot it down. (Did I mention bitterness?)

I self-published a paperback version, but it never sold more than 10 copies. I work as a professional book designer for small presses. I *love* real books, and I collect antique volumes of my favorite writers. I scoffed at the Kindle. So I just never thought of putting "Dirty Parts" out as an e-book.

More than a year after I had completely given up looking for publishers, I entered Amazon's "breakthrough novel" competition. My book made it to the top 50 last year, but was again shot down by Penguin editors/staffers when they narrowed the crop down to 4 finalists. (No surprise; but more disappointment.) But a few weeks after the contest was over, I noticed that the Kindle excerpt of my novel was being downloaded by more customers than were the finalists. That inspired me to publish the entire book to Kindle for the first time.

Sales were very slow for the first 6 months (about 5 to 20 per month), as Amazon removed the contest entries so I lost all the reader reviews that my excerpt had accumulated. Then, in mid-December, something clicked. By the end of the month, 300 copies had sold. And so far this month (January 2011), it's sold 5,500 copies. All with no promotion on my part (other than giving away some free copies in the Kindle forums after sales started picking up). It's also attracted 20 unsolicited reviews this month.

I followed your blog closely during the 2 years I was trying to sell my book traditionally, but stopped reading after giving up hope. So I had no idea that other unknown authors were finding this kind of success on Kindle. Never heard of Amanda Hocking or Karen McQuestion (greatest author name ever, by the way) until this month.

How to describe the thrill of finally getting *readers* after all these years? It's incredible. All along, I just wanted the chance to get my book past the gatekeepers and into readers' hands. I've gotten some great e-mails this month: one from an 87 year old Texan who said the characters reminded him of the folks he knew back then, another from a high-school English teacher who is recommending it to her students. It's like a commercial for the credit cards I foolishly used to finance my writing dreams before they were squashed: Priceless.

best,

Sam

Joe sez: I love this story, for several reasons. First, because it shows an epic fail by the gatekeepers. Penguin had two shots at this, and failed both times. Now the book is selling hundreds of copies a day. Oops.

Second, because Torode priced it at $2.99. The majority of self-pubbed ebooks that have made the Top 100 have been 99 cents. It's nice to see an indie ebook selling well AND making a lot of money for the author.

Third, because here is yet another example of an unknown author who sells a ton of ebooks without a platform, an agent, or any sort of marketing. It just caught on with readers who liked it. This is the ultimate in "word-of-mouth."

And fourth, I'm a sucker for a the fairy tale ending.

Sam followed the rules for successful ebook authors (which you should all know by heart by now.)

1. Write a good book.2. Have a good cover.3. Set a low price.4. Have a good product description.

The Dirty Parts of the Bible is a humorous novel set during the Great Depression---a rollicking tale of love and liquor, preachers and prostitutes, trains and treasure, sure to appeal to fans of Water for Elephants, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Mark Twain, and Johnny Cash....

Semifinalist for the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

"While the title suggests a raunchy read, this rich and soulful novel is actually a rather well-done bildungsroman [coming-of-age story] steeped in wanderlust and whimsy that at times recalls The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and at others a tamer On the Road. The story begins in 1936 as 19-year-old Tobias is thumbing his way from Remus, Mich., to his uncle's farm in Glen Rose, Tex., to find a hidden bag of money, after his father, a Baptist pastor, drunkenly slams his car into the church and is removed from the parsonage. The author does an excellent job in making well-charted territory (riding the rails; scavenged campfire meals under the stars) seem vibrant and new. Snippets of scripture, Southern spirituals, and folk ballads lend context and flavor to the text. Most impressive are the jangly dialogue and the characters' distinctive voices, which are authentic and earthy but not remotely hoary. When Tobias finally arrives at his uncle's, the surprises that await him are more than enough to keep his--and readers'--interests piqued." --Publisher's Weekly (ABNA)

"I absolutely loved The Dirty Parts of the Bible.... [It's] a grown-up Mark Twain-type adventure with lots of spirit and humor." --Reader Views

"[It] has lots of laughs and a few tears, and characters that are pure joy." --Front Street Reviews

"A fun read" --The Nashville Scene

"Sweet and funny" --Kirkus Discoveries

From the Back Cover

It's 1936, and Tobias Henry is stuck in the frozen hinterlands of Michigan. Tobias is obsessed with two things: God and girls.

Mostly girls, of course.

But being a Baptist preacher's son, he can't escape God.

When his father is blinded in a bizarre accident (involving hard cider and bird droppings), Tobias must ride the rails to Texas to recover a long-hidden stash of money. Along the way, he's initiated into the hobo brotherhood by Craw, a ribald vagabond-philosopher. Obstacles arise in the form of a saucy prostitute, a flaming boxcar, and a man-eating catfish. But when he meets Sarah, a tough farm girl under a dark curse, he finds out that the greatest challenge of all is love.

------------

Torode did a lot right in this description. He compared it to well known books and movies, explained the type of book it is, listed some rave reviews, mentioned it was a semi-finalist, and went briefly into the plot, setting, and main character.

His cover is professional, his title is perfect, and his web page is well designed.

What he needs to do next is get more writing up on Amazon ASAP, to capitalize on his current popularity.

More guest posts coming. Thanks to Sam for allowing me to share his email with my readers.

Another inspiring story. I've finally gotten my act together. I just published Meet Me at Taylor Park, a story similar to Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook. I've been told the description and title and price are all good. Now, I just need to get the word out and solicit some reviews.

beautiful satisfying story...like joe k's and others here... the day the big 6 relinquished gut instinct acquisition and risktaking to marketing people, well that was like, as we say back to home, "the day the roosters convinced the rubes that roosters alone cause the sun to rise every day."

I hate hearing stories about earnest, talented authors being plowed under by once earnest, talented editors who work for counters of legumes. I love hearing stories about authors that outlasted, outfoxed and stepped outside the chalk line and found not doom but destiny.

Too cool. Though I am way remedial re bringing my own ebks to kindleprint and hopefully will be able to some day, It makes me glad to hear about those who say the world is not flat and haul up all the sails and just go.

Another inspirational tale. Thanks Joe for inviting these guest bloggers to talk about their own successes.

A couple of posts back I was of the mind that e-books and e-readers were getting hyped beyond their potential. However, I've just read that e-books are now out selling paperbacks on Amazon. And though combined hardcovers and paperbacks outsell e-books, the margin is pretty small. So, it would appear as if there is plenty to suggest that they're going to take one day take over, after all.

Wow. I can't believe Penguin passed on it twice. Especially with that great title. Sam's story really does highlight the problems with the publishing business and the gatekeeper 'system'. I mean, I stopped sending out query letters in November last year and I'm still getting rejections come through. It's just a slow, outdated, out of touch business model. Meanwhile I'm selling through the Kindle store. And as Sam said, the thrill of having readers is incredible.

Great story. I'm happy with your success. You mentioned that in the first 6 months you were selling between 5-20 copies on Kindle and then something clicked in December. Are we correct to assume that it took you 7 months before you hit the bestseller's list?

Thank you so much for sharing this, it's nice to hear that a book can start slow and then take off. I think that gives many of us some hope. Also JA is dead on the money with his list:1. Write a good book (it may be a wonderful book, but it also has to be a marketable book. I have learned my lesson with that one and how literary fiction sells)2. Have a good cover (eye catching, able to stand out among all the other books on a page)3. Set a low price (seems most authors are setting theirs at 2.99 and it seems to be working. Let the publishers try to make money on a 9.99 kindle book)4. Have a good product description (Check out not only other books, but products in general on Amazon. It's an entirely different way of thinking.)

Actually, I did have it priced at 99 cents until yesterday, when (after reading your post on e-book pricing) I decided to raise it to $2.99. My overall sales rank has dropped 10 points, but it is still selling very well. So I'll stick with $2.99 unless it drops out out the top 100, at which point I'll reconsider.

Re: Russell-- I think I fist posted it to Kindle in April last year, and it didn't show up on any Amazon genre bestseller list till the end of December. Somehow, a handful of people still managed to find & buy it each month--I figured they had a way of searching for 99 cent books.

(Why does the book show a 2011 pub. date? When I uploaded a new file to correct some typos and tweak the design a couple weeks ago, I also updated the publication date to see if looking like a brand new release would help at all. Doubt it has mattered.)

A couple more tips... I used to have the typical short, plain book description allowed in the confines of the Kindle publishing platform. Then I discovered you can add bold print and italics from the "Amazon Author Central" dashboard, which allows you to mimic the big publishers.

I was frustrated that Amazon wouldn't upload my book trailer to the sales page--they said they only do that for publishers they have arrangements with. So to get around this, I added my website address to the book description (note: they will also not let you put "www" in your description.)

Also, I didn't have a website or book trailer until earlier this month, when the book started selling and, coincidentally, I had just got a new iMac with these great, fairly easy to use website & movie programs. Loooove the iMac.

Thanks Sam. I hate to come off as a Debbie Downer. I think selling your book at atleast 2.99 is ideal given the royalty shift.

But there likely will be some drop in sales, I would think. One author I know (who has moved nearly 100,000 copies of all her ebooks) suffered a fairly dramatic drop in actual books sold when she shifted to 2.99. However she made the same amount of money as before (not more).

Nobody seems quite sure why. Some readers apparently are quite willing to pay more, and others not--so it may be luck of the draw in terms of which type of audience you have.

But I do hope you come back with a very positive update and maybe you've even gained readership along with your higher royalty.

That's great. His story sounds a lot like mine, except that I'm just barely getting my books online and have a total of four sales (and still working on the cover, etc.).

My book actually went to auction and failed and then I was dropped even though my second book was better than my first. Well, I'm going to give it a shot. It might turn into nothing, like everything else I've tried, but who knows.

Hi Joe, I'm one of your followers, and I find out that (like most here) I'm quite in line with you on the ebooks subject.

A few months ago, I read you Print is eternal" post and found it great. I'd like to translate it in french the same way I did the other way for an open letter from 5 french authors to the publishing industry : Unequal rights for digital books.I'd put that translation on my blog too (with back links of course).Would you be okay with that ?

Congrats! Epic fail by the publishers is right. If this book were in the window of B&N...

I almost purchased this book this week... You just convinced me to do so. $2.99 vs. $0.99... yawn. Personally, a 2nd & 3rd book would make more of a difference. ;) (I'm stating I'm part of the market that isn't price sensitive on books that cheap.)

Do follow Joe's advice on working on the next books. Until you have 3+ books on Amazon you won't keep any momentum. Although, how to follow up on a book that took 3 years of effort...

What's happening this December adnd January with ebooks? Yea... I blog the AAP sales (still my latest post) and saw the jump last year. This year it is as if a switch was flipped and indie authors took off.

I could rattle off K3 sales (from chip purchases) of 5.3m in 4Q2010 and Amazon is buying chips for 4.5m in 1Q2011... But Indie market share seems to be exploding. What 'switch flipped.' Did Amazon change something in the 'people who bought this also bought' algorithm?

Re: Merrill-- I think what clicked is that somehow, enough people bought my book together with "Water for Elephants" that it showed up in the "customers also bought" section of the Elephants page. (This may have been helped by my tagging my book for association with Elephants, as both are set in the same period.)

PS-- I just did some research on the winners of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and saw that Penguin prices those books at $12.00 for Kindle, so they're not selling. No doubt, winning that contest is a huge publicity boost for getting hardcopies into bookstores, but it's not good for Kindle sales.

That's another reason why jealousy of other authors is misguided, by the way-- When I first read "Water for Elephants," I was jealous that it had done so well, while its publisher had turned down my book, because I felt my book could appeal to a similar audience. Right now, I'm thrilled for Elephants' success, because it has ended up helping me! The rising tide lifts all books.

Another source of inspiration: when "Water for Elephants" first came out, Publisher's Weekly said that it would have less mass appeal than the author's previous book about horses. (Talk about epic fail... :-)

Great story. Would be interesting to know what made things "click." Great title - there's so much to work with!

After having Lie Merchants available as an ebook for just over two months, I've watched sales modestly rise. Month-to-date January sales have exceeded December and November.

More importantly, people who bought the ebook back in November and December are apparently finishing up their read. I just received a second review on Amazon.com, which the reader posted that the book was "entertaining." That's about the highest compliment I could hope to receive!

True validation is having a paying customer post on Amazon: "Lie Merchants is a fun but thought-provoking read with a timely subject manner and well developed characters."

Congrats Sam. We're all rooting for you. Many authors have received similar comments from publishers during the economic slowdown, "Good book, but you don't have a big enough platform to appease our marketing department. Best of luck."Well in the immortal words of The Heavy, "How Do You Like Me Now."Go gettem Sam.

This might be my favorite success story yet, out of all of the guest posts to be included on your blog, Joe.

Congrats to Sam. The book sounds charming as heck, and the back cover summary has me interested as a reader, that's for sure.

Hard to imagine how successful or not this book would have been had it gone through the traditional channels, but I guess that is a moot point now, ain't it? Sam's got a readership--and some income. Very nice.

Beautiful post. Congratulations, Sam. Well deserved and so good to hear.

And Joe, adding his book description was perfect. I learned a lot from that. And Sam, thanks for the info laden follow-up comments. Author Central Dashboard. Got it.

And finally, what a title. I've seen such things "passed" before, in fact it's happened to me with a feature screenplay that happens to have an incredible title, but it always boggles my mind when marketing departments, or anybody who is in the business of selling books (or movies) can see something like "The Dirty Parts of the Bible" starring them right in the face and they don't see it. It's just incredible and it apparently happens all the time.

Great to see that it's working out so well for you Sam. Thanks for this post. - Steve

@gniz Nobody seems quite sure why. Some readers apparently are quite willing to pay more, and others not--so it may be luck of the draw in terms of which type of audience you have.

I have a theory about the $.99 vs $2.99 price. It’s based on a vast amount of research among my reader friends … readers who love genre fiction for its conventions, delivered with something fresh, read a lot of books, a book a day in some cases, and are attracted to the $.99 price point. Those who read longer books, not as fast, literary fiction, etc. are not as driven by price and for those readers $2.99 and I think $3.99 and $4.99 are considered very reasonable.

@Joseph D'AgneseIt sounds like the first hard-to-peg, non-genre book I've heard about on this blog.Since I tend to fall in the genre-bending –blending category – suburban noir aka psychological suspense leaning toward thriller but without some of the conventions ;) -- I’m also inspired by your story, Sam. I like the slow start you describe, and I really appreciate your willingness to put all the ups and down out there. I’ve only been on Kindle etc. for a month with The Demise Of The Soccer Moms, and am trying to keep focused on the next novel rather than obsessively reloading my author central page.

"On her blog, Robin Sullivan makes a case for not pricing at $0.99 (or free)."

Just read those posts, thanks for sharing. Kind of makes me reconsider my previous statements. At the same time, I still have the example of the romance author who lost over 50% of her audience going from 99 cents to 2.99.

I don't know what the truth is, and suspect it's all about audience and also whether you've been able to truly establish "fans" of your work.

I'm glad I found this blog. With all I've been hearing and reading I am starting to wonder if maybe I should forgo traditional publishing and look more into self publishing. If my story is strong enough why not? I just need a good cover and description (which query letters are a good guide I think.)Thanks.

Wow, Karen! Now I'm speechless from having heard from one of my new author-heroes.

I was living in southwest Wisconsin when I wrote most of the book by the way... When I saw the snowbound photos on your blog, it brought back pleasant memories--but also made me glad to be in a warmer climate now.

I think the price has also to do with the age of the audience. 12 to 25 and 65+ will both watch their pennies. The 26 to 55 age range probably is willing to pay the most, but has the least time to read.

With B&N and Borders both clearing shelf space to sell books, lattes, and other 'non-book' items, 'midlist' authors really won't have much of a chance in pbooks. :(

Sam, how did you make the trailer? You mentioned iMac software. What about the video parts itself, is that all homemade? And since you're a book designer by trade, can I assume you made the cover yourself too? It looks great! Is that a stock photo you bought or did you take it? Sorry for all the questions, but I have much to learn from guys like you!

I also want to point out that this is further evidence that you don't need to be writing about vampires having sex with werewolves to self-publish an eBook and have it sell well - no snubs to the writers of paranormal romance, but people have made the argument before that only certain niche, popular genres will sell well on the eBook market.

While this book might have a little synergy going as was mentioned, it is still by no means a para-romance, crime thriller, or serial mystery novel.

Just read those posts, thanks for sharing. Kind of makes me reconsider my previous statements. At the same time, I still have the example of the romance author who lost over 50% of her audience going from 99 cents to 2.99.

I don't know what the truth is, and suspect it's all about audience and also whether you've been able to truly establish "fans" of your work.

Spot-on. Which strongly suggests that an author must make the effort to know his/her audience instead of throwing something out there and seeing whether it sticks.

Thanks, Telly. My front cover photo was assembled in Photoshop from vintage items I photographed. The video trailer uses images from my collection, and quite a few copyright-free pics I just found through Google image search. (The girl at the end of the video is my grandmother, in the late 1930s. She helped inspire the character a bit.)

iMovie took a little figuring out, especially to get the timing right between the words and pictures (change the timing on one frame, and everything after shifts too). Yep, it gives me an advantage that I'm a designer, but I'm not a techie by any stretch.

Also, I had a nice USB microphone to record the voiceover, and used a 1930s jazz song (public domain, I hope) in the background.

PS-- I'm hope I'm not commenting too much, but-- one thing that annoyed me with the traditional publishing process is that they would only consider my manuscript when it was set in Courier font, plain, double spaced, etc, and they refused to even look at my cover design ideas, or the fun 30s illustrations I'd collected while writing the book.

You'll be happy to know I've purchased your book...in paperback, since I'm such a relic and can't seem to let go of the old ways ;-)

I noticed when I searched for the book on Amazon two different versions came up, one by Sammy Conner with a slightly different cover. I prefer the current cover version btw, much more...something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's got a little something extra that really speaks to me.

@wannabuy I think the price has also to do with the age of the audience. 12 to 25 and 65+ will both watch their pennies. The 26 to 55 age range probably is willing to pay the most, but has the least time to read.

re #5: Good titleI agree. In fact, I think that might even tie with good cover. With lots of tiny thumbnails on tiny screens, sometimes the title is the only frontline marketing going on, regardless of how wonderful the cover is.

JTP-- thanks much! I put a lot of care into designing the paperback, so glad to hear that. I have it priced at the minimum level required to get it in CreateSpace's advanced distribution program.

The Sammy Conner version was my first attempt at self-publishing, under a pen name. Conner is the name of my Texas relatives, and I thought if my name sounded more southern or "country" it might help sell it. (Didn't help.)

There's Anthropology of an American Girl, which was picked up by harper collins (?? someone) this year and pubbed in hard cover, but she marketed the hell out of her self-pubbed work and got a cult-like following.

When one huge success pays for two hundred failures, I'd say no. That business model is awful, and they don't deserve to stay in business.

Watching ho the publishers of Potter, Twilight, and Dan Brown all wound up taking huge losses when those books sales slowed down is a big indicator that they aren't managing their money, or their acquisitions, correctly.

@wannabuy I think the price has also to do with the age of the audience. 12 to 25 and 65+ will both watch their pennies. The 26 to 55 age range probably is willing to pay the most, but has the least time to read.

For what little anecdotal evidence is worth, I'm in that central bracket and it describes me perfectly.

J, it's not literary fiction as it has a nonrealistic, almost "fairy tale" plot.

The 3 books that inspired me most before writing were "Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor, "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd, and "Heaven's My Destination" by Thornton Wilder (a long-forgotten classic). All those books are part literary, part humor, part adventure, part southern, part philosophical, etc.

In spite of the fact that the traditional industry has treated me like an abused spouse, alternatively promising love and then beating me mercilessly, I find myself hoping that it continues to survive. I want to be able to go into a bookstore in thirty years and pick a hunk of paper off a shelf, thumb through it, and know that it has been vetted and edited by professionals.

What I hope is that e-publishing and self-publishing can serve as an alternative in some cases, but that it won't become the only game in town.

And to prove that I'm suffering from schizophrenia, here's a gratuitous link to my book:

I think the key thing is to remember there is a paradigm shift in the works. Where we are now i terms of both traditional and ebook/self-pubbing is not the end state. It is morphing and will continue to do so for a while yet. What shape this whole thing will take in the next year or two or ten is presently unknown.

So ride the rails as best you can now in whatever format you find it. Make money the best you can in whatever method it is available and realize it isn't going to last. There will be other changes that will take us in new directions we can't see now so take advantage of the ripe harvest while it is here.

Oh...and since it's all changing so fast, get out there and buy my ebooks too while I'm giving away free Kindles...cuz that won't last either.

I MUST read this book. MUST. It sounds beyond awesome! And fortunately, I have *just* enough Amazon credit to buy it! :D

Thanks also for your transparency on what you've done! We really appreciate the info. :)

@Patricia Lynne - If you really have worked like mad on your MS, vetted the piece, and believe in the story, there is absolutely no reason not to self-publish on Kindle. It can be undone with the click of a button if you change your mind. Keep going for a print deal, too, if you'd like. That's up to you. But now, it looks like not self-pubbing is just leaving cash on the table.

There are tons of folks with good advice here. Personally, I do covers and formatting as a business (in addition to writing), and I love helping other authors out - I want us all to be making money.

I remember reading somewhere that fewer people were making a living writing than were making a living playing professional baseball. I think we're turning that on its ear, and I want to keep going!

@Joe - re: huge blockbuster publishers:

I personally know an author who wrote some award-winning stuff who is getting jerked around by the work's publisher - this person's book is being kept "in print" by cunning use of POD and refusal to reread the contract about when rights revert back to this author. That publisher shouldn't be worrying about these particular book rights, unless they want to negotiate properly for e-rights. After all, they're sitting on Twilight money. Just goes to show that they will make a ton of money, blow it all, and then still screw the little guy. Sad, sad business. I gave this author a little advice, and it includes cunning use of an agent and an attorney... ;) The reverted rights should do quite well on Kindle.

RE: Pricing - I can't get a used book at a used book shop for under $3-4. $2.99 on Kindle works great for me! I'll check out some $.99 books, but I'm not as price-obsessed about it. I don't see the need to be. Paying the author decently still gets me more books to read, and I'm not a cheapskate when it comes to art. I'll pay for good stuff. If it sucks, I'll send it back. Easy enough, right?

We are living in miraculous times for writers. A year ago that lady published on her blog that her NYT Best Seller had earned her a mere $24k after taxes. I think most of us thought we'd never make a living as a writer for a while after that.

Today we're regularly hearing of "unknown" writers being discovered by READERS...and are making $10k a month or more. Will it continue? Who knows. Can it continue? Yep. In fact, we could be seeing just the tip of the iceberg....

My goal is to have 5 books on the market by the time eBooks capture 50% of books sold. I'd say that's 2, maybe 3 years out.

I put mine on Google Books at the beginning of the month and thus far have had 2 sales total, and about 150 "views" I don't know though if the site logs sales from people who click the link to go to my site, or amazon, B&N, etc.

Sam - What an inspiration for those of us whose books aren't exploding with sales but are, instead, doing a slow burn.

Within a week or so, I'll have my fourth book uploaded. Then I'm going to go gangbusters on a marketing blitz using many of the tips I've so gratefully received on this blog (especially how to get reviews as I think that's one of my downfalls).

In any case, I'm very happy to be a small part of this indie revolution.

@Sam - OMG that title! That title is perfection! Except that I was hoping it might actually be about the dirty parts of the bible, but that's where my mind goes, my bad! :)

------One author I know (who has moved nearly 100,000 copies of all her ebooks) suffered a fairly dramatic drop in actual books sold when she shifted to 2.99. However she made the same amount of money as before (not more).

It works the opposite direction as well. I dropped the price of my $2.99 stories to $0.99 and I'm selling WAY more but making the same amount of money, due to the royalty percentage change.

That may be true Joe, but it's a business model that has brought this reader well over 40 years of reading pleasure and satisfaction.

Thank you, big publishing, may I have another?

This is like saying, "Oh Mr. Prison Guard, thank you so much for that bologna sandwich, I was so hungry and this just hits the spot!"

Who knew you could have been eating prime rib and lobster?

They've done a HORRIBLE job over the years, and you want to thank them for it? They've kept readers AND writers hostage.

@JT"That may be true Joe, but it's a business model that has brought this reader well over 40 years of reading pleasure and satisfaction."

In general, those that read over 30 books per year were the ones frustrated by the 'lack of variety.' I hadn't realized how much I craved more variety until I started buying Indie on my Kindle.

Of course authors denied an audience (or publicity) wouldn't be happy. I've read 8 small pub/Indie ebooks that never would have made it into Borders this month. I hope to finish 4 more. I would have read a big6 novel... Alas, my pre-order from May 2010 is now expected in April despite being in Hardcover a year ago! (grr... I'm not lugging around an 800 page book.)

Another point: I never would have paid $13.99+ for the book being illustrated in this thread. For $2.99, I'm going to give it and the genre a try. Low cost ebooks have driven me to 'buy and try' quite a bit more than I would have otherwise.

@No Bull Steve:"My goal is to have 5 books on the market by the time eBooks capture 50% of books sold. I'd say that's 2, maybe 3 years out."3 years at a minimum. It will take a sub $80 ereader and hordes of tablets to reach 50%.

There simply isn't the 'factory space' for the devices much before then. :( Until Samsung, TSMC, and TI ramp up ARM CPU production, we have little growth room for ereaders and tablets. All three companies will grow tremendously in 2011 and 2012 though... Note: TI supplies both Kindle and Nook CPUs. Samsung is trying to get into the market as well as Marvell, Via, and other TSMC customers.

We also have to wait for those new screen factories in Taiwan, Wuhan, and Chungdu to ramp up. Ereaders, tablets, and cell phones will all drive growth (in declining order). It takes time to ramp up production...

To others: Amanda Hocking is now #2 on Kindle! Wow... Behind 'The Executioners Daughter' which is a fun read. (I'm 1/2 way through it.)

"Another point: I never would have paid $13.99+ for the book being illustrated in this thread. For $2.99, I'm going to give it and the genre a try. Low cost ebooks have driven me to 'buy and try' quite a bit more than I would have otherwise"

That's where we differ. I have no problem paying that much for a book that piques my interest.

Btw...Sam's book is $10.99. It looks to be a beautifully made paperback, and I look forward to reading it.

As far as variety goes, or lack of it, you've made that point here repeatedly, and I've never quite understood where you're coming from.

Maybe it's a genre thing, and the ones you prefer have no variety. For me, it has honestly never been an issue.

I read more books and spend less for said books than I did 3 years ago.

re: variety

Even if you don't notice a difference, think about who the power lies with:

then: a very few overworked editor's assistants

now: millions of readers.

There is no more 'tastemaker' class. It is democratic now. Everything can be available now for a reader to choose from. There will always be bestsellers and categories but the reader can dig deep and keep digging and searching if they want. It's a beautiful thing, imho.

Through my glasses the world looks pretty spiffy all around. So I'll make my dough from where I sit and have fun soaking in the pleasant rays of toast and inhaling the delicious scent of the colour nine.

Take the path you think is right, and enjoy the journey because that's where the pleasure is. Whichever direction you head doesn't matter, cuz there's a sniper laid up a thousand meters away with his cross hairs on you...just waiting for his time in the sun.

Stereotype much? The "all romance writers are sexually frustrated housewives" cliche has been around since the seventies. It hasn't grown any less insulting, or less sexist, with use. (You'll notice thriller writers are never described as sexually frustrated househusbands.)

sam said:> How to sum of the years of > disappointment and bitterness > trying to get > traditionally published? > I spent 3 years writing and > honing the book, and it was > the most satisfying creative > project I'd ever worked on. > The 2 years that followed, > trying to sell the manuscript, > were like tossing my heart > into a meat grinder.

now, now, that pain is over.best to put it behind you...

***

sam said:> A couple nights ago, > between 10 pm and 6 am, > it sold 99 copies at 99 cents.>> Last night, between 10 and 6, > it sold 80 copies at $2.99.>> So, 10 copies less, but > much higher revenue.

you can't judge the numbers on such a constricted time-frame...

you won't even be able tojudge the effect of yourprice-raise until _march_,by which time the rising tidewill wash out the effect anyway.(at least, let's _hope_ that's so.)

some e-book buyers have toreturn to a book many timesbefore they'll make the buy...

and that's not unusual...marketeers tell us that itcan take as many as 6-8exposures to sell a product.

the first time they might justcome because they hear aboutthe book and have curiosity...they'll read the descriptionand look at the star-ratings.

the next time they mightactually read all the blurbs.

the next time, the reviews...

the next time they'll actuallygrab the sample. then later,after they've read the sample,which might be much later,they might come back again,just to review everything...

and then, after all of thesevisits, and perhaps moreword-of-mouth, or maybeencountering the book asan amazon recommendation,they'll actually come and buy.

if, when they come to buy,they find the price has beenraised from $.99 to $2.99,it probably won't make thatmuch of a difference, sincethey were already reeled inby the $.99 price on theirearlier visits, and they hadalready decided. but if that$2.99 price had been therefrom the start, maybe theywould _not_ get reeled in...

right now, your customerswere reeled in by the $.99.and $2.99 is not so muchmore that they will balk...

let's just hope that youdidn't stilt that momentumtoo much with the raise...

you need to understandthat i think you _should_have a $2.99 price-tag.eventually. because the35% royalty on everythingunder $2.99 is a _joke_...amazon takes too much.it's not fair. so i do thinkyou should have raisedyour prices from $.99...

but i don't think you did it at the right time.

either you shoulda had itpriced at $2.99 all along,in which case we can allbe pretty sure that youwould _not_ have gottenthat fantastic jump from300 buyers in decemberto 5,500+ in january...

or you should have leftthe price at $.99, untilyour sales started tolevel off, or got up to25,000-monthly levels,where the difference inthe royalty rates startsto mean big differencesin the cash you receive.

but to raise the pricewhen your sales-curveis experiencing a surgein its acceleration is,i think, a big mistake,because it will probablyhurt your momentum...

@JT"As far as variety goes, or lack of it, you've made that point here repeatedly, and I've never quite understood where you're coming from. "

How many books do you read a year? Survey after survey shows that half of those that read 30 or more books per year were dissatisfied with the selection in book stores. Hence, how Amazon started their business (variety not found locally). Which means half of the 'intense readers' are happy at the selection in bookstores.

Some readers are happy with the 800 book selection at Target. Since I read only 2 or 3 best sellers a year, Target *rarely* stock a book that interests me. When Borders stocked 150k titles per store, I was happy with the selection. But the local Borders dropped below 75k titles over a decade ago. Much of the cutting was in the book variety geared towards younger men and women. SF&F was cut by 2/3rds :( History by 2/3rds... Romance by half. I like the larger coffee shop and childrens books section, but it was at the expense of age 25 to 55 reading selection.

Part of how Borders and B&N killed off Crown books was by offering more tiles. In their 'Hayday', the titles per store:Borders: 100k to 150kB&N: 35k to 50kCrown: 15k to 25kIndie: < 10k

Today:Borders: 45k to 100k (there are still a few 'flagship' stores)B&N: 15k to 35kIndie: < 10k

For the record, I'll spend $20 for a book (heck, I've spent over $100). I just won't spend $10 for a book I'm not certain I'll love or a book outside of my favorite genres anymore. Today I have a $19 ebook on pre-order.

It doesn't matter if you get where I'm coming from. What matters is that half of the 'intense readers' want more variety. That's 35% of the book market... :) I wonder how those surveys will look as B&N and Borders dedicate more and more floor space to toys and other junk.

"Even if you don't notice a difference, think about who the power lies with:

then: a very few overworked editor's assistants

now: millions of readers."

@ Kendall, Selena, and others in the "suddenly variety" conversation,

I have a recent blog post about this very notion. It's about the inevitable homogenization of art as an effect of big corporate commerce, and the sudden blast of variety we are seeing in publishing. If anyone is interested it is right here... ­ Got Books?/...

Very inspiring story Sam - I absolutely love your cover! Just bought the paperbacks on Amazon, and look forward to reading your novel. And Joe - thanks for being so diligent with your blog. It must take mountains of time and it shows - I love it.

@JT"I will admit that the genres I like are the ones more fully stocked at the brick & mortars. I'm sure that's where the difference lies."

Lucky you. My favorite genres hit their 'hayday' between 1955 and 1975. Since then, established authors have served as an 'old guard' ensuring that the new authors are 'up to snuff.' Well... I hapen to like the new stuff that didn't make it through.

I also like to read stuff that is tough to find in used book stores. Some are now 'collectors items' that cost far too much to actually read. As a father, I can no longer justify spending $100 on a novel as I did in the past...

I also want to read out of print MMPBs. Sadly, since those books only last 7 to 12 years (due to the acid in the paper), there is no way to buy them used.

One last thing, as was discussed here, SF&F (as well as romance) have covers many readers don't want to show in public. (Why those covers?!?) Ereaders are nice there.

Also, 70% of the population do not consider reading 'doing something.' On a plane, having an electronic device keeps the bored saleman from bothering me. :) I used to be disturbed far too much when reading on mass transit/planes. Now if someone bothers me it is to ask about the Kindle... or hit on me. ;)

@Basil:"Lucky for her, ebooks have made a way for me to read more than I ever have because I can afford more books,"Lucky for me, ebooks stopped the 'book clutter.' My wife didn't understand the *need* for 20 books 'in process.'

There are a dozen other reasons I prefer an ereader (e.g., no longer lugging around a 800+ page Robert Jordan novel). Since I usually have multiple books I'm reading, it is nice to carry them all around. :)

gniz said:> One author I know > ...> suffered a fairly dramatic > drop in actual books sold > when she shifted to 2.99. > However she made the same > amount of money as before > (not more). >> Nobody seems quite sure why.

nobody seems quite sure why?

oh please... there are a millioneconomists who can tell us why.

it's called a price-demand curve.find it in any econ 101 textbook.or, you know, it's on wikipedia...

indeed, it's such a strong effectthat it's also known by the name"the law of demand"... yes sir,they actually call this _a_law_...

seriously, i totally understandthe difference between $.99and $2.99 is small for a bookyou know you want to buy...

but what about, say, 10 books,which you _might_ want to buy.

at $.99 each, that's 10 bucks.probably still an impulse buy.

but at $2.99 each, 10 are $30,and you're gonna stop to think.

now how 'bout, oh, _100_ books.

at $.99 for each, that's $100.ok, that might be your budgetfor books for a couple months.

but at $2.99 each, it's $300,so you'd blow your budget...

so if your budget is just $100,that means you can only buy_33_ of those $2.99 books,not the whole batch of 100...

now if you're an author whois selling one of the lucky 33,you're ok with that, i'm sure.

but what if you're one of theauthors of the unlucky 67?you just made a pricing error.

and even more to the point,i think the person with that$100 budget will decide tobuy 100 books at $.99 each,instead of 33 at $2.99 each.especially the heavy readers.(and kindle owners _are_.)

the 100 cheapies require nosorting or selection. just buy.if you've decided that it'll beworth your time to read it,it's obviously worth a buck.no more analysis necessary.

but if you decide to go with33 books at $2.99, you haveto do research to pick which.they're all pretty good, or youwouldn't have decided to pay$2.99 for them, but now youhave to decide which of themis worth more than 2 others.and that's a pain in the butt.

it's not as if your budget will_grow_ just because you wantto purchase more costly books.

$.99 e-books are _impulse_buys... knee-jerk purchases...but when a person has shottheir wad on $.99 e-books,they have nothing left to buyany of your $2.99 e-books...

if it boils down to one book,$2.99 vs. $.99, machts nicht.

but it rarely boils down toone book for kindle people.kindle people buy _lots_ ofbooks. lots and lots and lots.

and commenters here are_counting_ on that tendencywhen they recommend thatyou upload several books,because of repeat-purchases.if you find an author you like,are you more willing to pay$10 for their 10 books or$30 for their 10 books?maybe they'll have to decidejust how much they like you.and if they just spent $30for the 10 books from some_other_ author, are theygonna have any moneyleft over to buy _yours_?

again, i will repeat, becauseit seems i cannot repeat itenough times for people tohave it sink into their skulls,but i do indeed recommendthat authors price their booksat $2.99, so they can get the70% royalty instead of 35%...

but you're gonna sell morecopies of your book at $.99.probably 5 times as many...that's why they call it a law.

@Kendall:"I tell people who ask about my kindle that is changes the way you read the way the ipod/mp3 player changed the way we listen to music. "

I'm going to borrow that line. :)

@JT:"I've teetered on the verge of purchasing a Kindle many times in the last few months. I'm sure one of these days I'll go through with it ;-)"

Come over to the dark side. The water is warm. ;)

Seriously, what pushed me to a Kindle was a series of business trips where I was just 'done' lugging books to a town where the book stores closed before I was off work. (long shifts) :( The 'variety thing' didn't happen until a half year later. :)

Supposidly Kindle owners typically do half their reading on paper. That was true for me Kindle year #1(2009).

For Kindle Year #2(2010): 20 pbooks out of 126 (call it 20%).

In Kindle year #3(2011), one pbook to 8 ebooks so far.

I expect that 10% to 20% pbooks of total reads will hold true for a few years (for me). Longer books are now all ebook for reasons already noted. I'm given ~20/year that interest me. :)

@Neil - Kudos to you for being so patient with your wife. ;) I wouldn't tolerate someone who doesn't like me reading lots of books. Been there once, not going back. Great thing about the Kindle is the lack of new book "clutter" isn't it? I love books, but my allergies, wallet, and lack of storage space decidedly do NOT.

@Variety/price conversation in general

The ebook revolution has given me so much more book access that I ever had. I've always been, well, poor. I became an avid re-reader early in life because I never could get enough books. I credit Anne McCaffrey with single-handedly preventing my suicide as a pre-teen, mainly because I found 2 of her books and I reread them the entire summer. (that was the worst year of my life, hands down. At least things have looked up since I was 11.)

I can buy all sorts of books now, and for inexpensive prices. Free books abound as promos from the NY publishers and from individual authors. I do not hurt for reading material, especially when you add my librarian husband on top of it all.

Best thing: SO much lighter to carry. I now no longer need an inconveniently large bookcase in which to carry around Harry Potter...

@Selena - I have a writing exercise I do daily to warm up. I have 2 characters I've known and loved for years, and I write their first time together in a different way. It might take 3 days to write a whole new scene, then I start another. I use it to stretch my brain, to think of the exact same 2 people in different ways and situations for the exact same point in their lives together. These won't ever be published or read by anyone, but these vignettes do their job to get the writing juices flowing. They do, however, get other things flowing, too, and my hubby gets the benefit! XD

First, thanks to everybody on here--I think you helped boost my sales today. So these results are perhaps skewed, but here are totals for the first 27 hours after (and before) raising the price:

530 copies sold in 27 hours at $2.99

680 copies sold in previous 27 hours at $0.99.

I'm not good enough at math to tell you the percentage decrease in copies offhand. But the royalties earned have gone up fivefold. As somebody said, will take some time to see if it hold up, but--whew.

Joe, thank you for giving away so much information. I'm inspired by the success stories you are sharing. I bought your publishing guide on Amazon, rather than download the free version, to try and repay you in some small way. I'm working on a self-help book. Any examples of authors in that or other nonfiction genres that have taken your path?

Honestly, I would think nonficiton is a wide open market. Readers buy more nonfiction than fiction, and nonficiton books are even more overpriced than fiction. It's a field ripe for plucking, I'd wager.

I need to figure out how to grab these consistent numbers like you guys are getting.

I had a hundred a day for a few days two weeks ago then stumbled back down to 10 a day since.Got good reviews, but just not slamming those sales at the moment...frustrating. I keep waiting to see it pick up and stay picked up.

Sam,Thanks for the revenue numbers. I'm glad to see the 5X income rise! (Well, pre-tax...)

We readers want affordable books; we also want our authors well paid (so they crank out more!).

@Lundeen:"Great thing about the Kindle is the lack of new book "clutter" isn't it?

Yep! As to the wife... let's say it's a good think I had a Kindle shortly after child #1. ;)

Further you said:"Best thing: SO much lighter to carry. I now no longer need an inconveniently large bookcase in which to carry around Harry Potter..."

Lol. I had to donate my entire Harry Potter collection prior to a move. Well, that and *dozens* of other boxes full of books. It wasn't worth the cost of transport. That hurt though (it was pre-Kindle).

I want to comment that nonfiction on Kindle has... catching up to do. Some is the Amazon search just isn't as 'efficient' for me finding history or economics books (unless I already know the title, of course).

Or, as you point out, prices are *crazy*. I'm not paying $85+ for an unrated naval history ebook!

And because I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw this $144 history ebook, the link:http://www.amazon.com/German-Naval-Strategy-1856-1888-ebook/dp/B000OT7WVW/ref=sr_1_39?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1296283132&sr=1-39

Your process sounds all too familiar. I spent four years writing and honing my novel The Warhol Gang and then going through the submission process. I was lucky enough to score a deal with HarperCollins, but trust me when I say it's just as much of a meat grinder on the other side. No complaints about my editors -- they were top-notch -- but the business…. ye gods, the insanity of it all. No one cares about your book like you do. If you can make a go of it on your own, then power to you! That's why I just self-pubbed a backlist book on Kindle rather than try to shop it around once more. I just couldn't go through that madness again.

I'm off to check out your book now! How could people pass on a title like that…?

I know, are you fkm? $90 for a 60,000 word book? Dude, I respect your research, but I'm an academic too and it really ain't worth that. Sorry. Besides, maybe the author, despite being an academic, might actually like to SELL a few books, to someone besides those three subscribing libraries in London, Tuscany and Liechenstein. STOP SELLING TO LIBRARIES AND SELL TO PEOPLE!

Sorry. Rant mode. This is a sore tooth in my mouth right now. There are so many books -- and journal articles -- I would buy for my kindle right now if they were even REMOTELY reasonably priced.

For instance, I would pay $10-$19 for an academic nonficion ebook whereas I would not for a novel. Over $20 and I am heading to the library. And $50 to $150? You must be a raving lunatic. Or conducting a psych experiement to see if I am one.

But academics can't defect from the university presses like indie novelists. Unlike with fiction, the validation of an acedemic press actually *matters* to whether the book can be cited. So I don't know what to do about that, especially since university presses are really doing poorly now.

re: non-fictionNeil, I hope I'm not being out of line but my DH, Michael Harris has made THE ATOMIC TIMES -- http://amzn.to/TheAtomicTimes -- available on Kindle. As a young soldier, Michael was sent to "observe" the US H-bomb tests at the Pacific Proving Ground and TAT is his story about that experience. Sad, tragic, raunchy, hilarious at times and deadly, the book has been praised by Henry Kissinger and Robert Parker & lots of readers in between.

Sam,I just made good my promise to buy your book! (Too much blogging...) ;)

Ruth,Interesting book! Sold! (Or should I say bought...)

I have no idea why, but finding good history on Amazon is far tougher (for me) than finding good novels... grrr...

@Tara,I'm with you on buying non-fic and journal articles at *reasonable* prices. To 'satisfy' my interests would cost $3k to $5k per year! I'd have to give up coffee and eating out for that! Neither of those would make a happy Neil...

I've got no real complaints about HarperCollins. I was lucky enough to work with some really great people there, and they did a lot for me. Although my publicist did quit the week the book came out. I like to think it had nothing to do with me or the book….

It's more the whole archaic nature of the business that drives me nuts. You can't buy The Warhol Gang in the U.S. yet because my agent is working on selling the U.S. rights. Which means sending it someone to look at for six months, and then they ask for changes, which is another three months, and then if they buy it, it's another 18 months before publication…. (I know another writer who sold rights all over internationally, but he had to produce different editions for each country. He went a little mad.) And giving up control of your work, that's tough. There's got to be a better way. (A familiar complaint, I know.)

I just didn't want to go through that again with Please, not while I'm still going through it with TWG. That's why the whole Kindle revolution, and communities like this, are so encouraging.

I hope you continue to kick ass. Success like yours is a great thing for readers and writers alike!

Thanks for the tip re adding reader reviews to the Kindle edition. I'm off to request that now.

That is really cool, I love the title. Anyone have any suggestions on the best ways to get professional reviews for an unknown book from an unknown writer? I've been looking around at some book review blogs but most of them talk about taking months, or years, to get around to reading a novel.

Sam said:First, thanks to everybody on here--I think you helped boost my sales today. So these results are perhaps skewed, but here are totals for the first 27 hours after (and before) raising the price:

530 copies sold in 27 hours at $2.99

680 copies sold in previous 27 hours at $0.99.

I'm not good enough at math to tell you the percentage decrease in copies offhand. But the royalties earned have gone up fivefold. As somebody said, will take some time to see if it hold up, but--whew. --------

Sam, it's a drop of 150 books, equal to about 22.06%. But whose counting the books when you can count the money. It just depends on what you want.

I feel you on the pain of losing books for a move - I moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles about 4.5 years ago, and we cut heavily. We still moved about 400 pounds of books, though! When we got our kindles, we sold 80% of our books at a yard sale 2 weeks later. We just moved back to Atlanta, and sold even more books off. Somehow still managed to move with 500 pounds of books, though.. But the move was much lighter with the Kindles! XD

(doncha hate it when _writers_screw up the language? i mean,screwing up on math is kind of_expected_, but _language_?that's supposedly their forte.)

> whose counting > the books > when you can > count the money.

hu is counting the money...hu is the president of china.

do you know how china_got_ all of the money?

low prices.

from "the gambler", sung bykenny rogers, by don schlitz:> You got to know > when to hold'em, > know when to > fold'em,> Know when to > walk away, > and know > when to run.> You never > count your money, > when you're > sitting at the table.> There'll be time > enough for counting, > when the > dealing's done.

if you gave us the number forevery day, we could chart yourpath and project into the future.

Or, make a link that sends every buyer of your book instantly buys mine too...then I can just keep track of the details from there...

yeah...that'd work jsut fine

In seriousness though, you seem to have hit upon what I imagine is a primary manner by which indie-ebooks grow. Slowly at first with little or no public knowledge of the author, then a few buy it and start talking about it, then a few more take a look and leave comments, and then it exponentially grows from there. This month's 10 sales tell five friends each, next months 30 sales do the same, the following months 150 sales do the same then suddenly you're at 5000, then 10k, 20k etc until saturation. By that time make sure to have another book on the market and you'll start off a lot higher out of the gate as long as they like your stuff.

I started a couple months behind you, and this month have hit 600 books sold, therefore if all things hold to this concept hope to hit 3000 plus next month. God willing it will. We'll see what happens.

"A year ago that lady published on her blog that her NYT Best Seller had earned her a mere $24k after taxes."

I would like to add that the entire story about a NYT Best Seller who earned only $24k is a pile of horse manure stacked up as high as your eyeballs.

That author got a $50k+ advance for that book and her only real "expense" was the 15% that she had to give to her agent. Everything else was stuff she stacked up attempting to prove that the $50k+ advance wasn't that much.

Yes, it isn't that much, but you can't go traveling to a bunch of conventions and then claim it as an expense (you can to the IRS... heh) because you didn't HAVE to go to those conventions.

She stacked that article so that everything fell in one direction when the truth was that she got around $42,500 for that novel in advance which is a pretty fair chunk of change when you think about it.

Bravo, Sam! [Morning cup of coffee raised in high salute.] You've inspired me to enhance a few descriptions.

Why waste time and effort submitting stuff to Amazon's annual contests? Penguin judges those books, employing the same exclusionary standards that have sent Big 6 publishing into its death spiral.

Over time Big 6 went from selecting books folks might like to read to being the arbiters of what should be read. They priced their books too high for many to afford while releasing annual surveys showing us we're too dim to read. (The one that lives in memory is that Americans "read only one book a year and that borrowed from a friend." What patronizing twaddle.)

And all the while producing less and less that was a good read while constantly increasing prices, as sales strangely were plummeting. That they also treated most of their writers as though Kleenex was but another facet of a self-destructive hubris masquerading as a business model.

Well, I feel better now. Another cup to Sam and then to tweaking those descriptions.

"I would like to add that the entire story about a NYT Best Seller who earned only $24k is a pile of horse manure stacked up as high as your eyeballs.

"That author got a $50k+ advance for that book and her only real "expense" was the 15% that she had to give to her agent. Everything else was stuff she stacked up attempting to prove that the $50k+ advance wasn't that much."

That sounds like Lynn Veihl's post on The Reality of a New York Times Bestseller-- you can find it here: http://www.genreality.net/the-reality-of-a-times-bestseller

She used to write sf with a romantic slant but I think her last book was urban fantasy.

She took a lot of heat for that post especially on romance author blogs because very few authors gave any numbers. However, she explicitly said she had not attended any conventions so it might not be the same author, but the numbers are about the same.

Kindle authors are incredibly open about what they sell compared to a few years ago. She was also just explaining about her first royalty statement. It's rather an interesting read.

She concluded

In Publishing telling the truth about earnings smashes the illusions publishers and writers want you to believe and, like breaking mirrors, it never brings you good luck. Thing is, when I was a rookie I wanted to know exactly what it took to have a top twenty Times bestselling novel, because that was such a big deal to writers. Everyone I asked gave me a different answer, told me a bunch of nonsense, or couldn’t/wouldn’t tell me at all. For that reason I want you to see the hard figures, and know the reality, and the next time someone asks you what it takes, you can tell them the truth.

Thanks, Neil. I may delete that message later if I get cold feet about being so public :-)

No 2nd novel in the works yet. Right now my main artistic outlet (aside from book design) is portrait painting. I'd actually love to do a graphic novel and children's book (I'm a dad) in the near future, before writing another novel.

again, i hasten to repeat-- because it seems that ican't repeat it enough --that _i_recommend_ the$2.99 price-point, sincethe 35% royalty is unfair.

but one needs to considerthe entire equation here,and not just part of it...

> So, I'm not inclined > to post sales figures.

i'm confused.

you already posted the figure:5,500 books as of january 28.

as a lump sum, it's not useful,because it doesn't tell us trend.

a day-by-day specific numberwould give us information ontrend, but the "sales figure" of5,500 would total up the same.

> But, I will try to post > what's helpful to others.

what you posted is not helpful.and what i asked for would be.

but whatever. if you'd rathernot give the information, fine.

really! :+)

your story on the whole remainsuplifting. our questions, aboutwhat caused the sudden jump,and how the price might haveaffected your momentum, arealso interesting, perhaps evenmore so, and you have given uslittle information about them...however -- as i said -- the mainstory that a slow-moving book_can_ catch on is one that willgive hope to the many authorswho are stuck with such books.

Sam: It appears that most returns actually happen within seconds of purchase, and were probably due to somebody meaning to hit "sample" rather than the 1-click. If they didn't have returns, they'd have a lot more people complaining about not being able to opt-out of one-click.

JT: re disposable income. A lot of stats are thrown off by the difference between "average" and "median." Most people make well below "average" income. A lot of us don't use cellphone plans. We use pay-as-you-go phones which cost less than $10 a month. Why do you think every grocery store and convenience store has the cards for those?

"We don't release specific numbers, but it's interesting that October was our best month ever for ebooks..."

The next day, at 9:30 A.M. jtplayer said:

"Why won't anyone release specific numbers?"

That same day, at 2:58 P.M. bowerbird quoted jtplayer and said:

"post your income tax return, and then we can talk. ok?"

Later that day, at 4:29 P.M. jtplayer said:

"bowerbird...I know you fancy yourself a clever dude and all, but c'mon man, releasing specific sales figures for ebooks or the Kindle is in no way equivalent to releasing tax returns"

The next day, at 2:42 P.M., bowerbird quoted jtplayer and and came back with:

"on reflection, i think you're right. it's more like releasing your monthly pay-stub. so let's see you do _that_, and then we can talk, ok?"

I guess that's enough for now. You guys can read the rest on the link that I provided. There are more posts throughout discussing the subject of $89 Kindles sold at xmas and the issue of individuals and publishers posting specific sales figures.

Again, thank you for the numbers. respect you are a private person. So I'm not going to link or otherwise repost the numbers, even though I find them fascinating.

JT, I'm unable to find the link again.

As the daring novelist notes, 'pay as you go' cell phone plans are popular. I know almost as many people who pay less than $20/month (including myself, but I'm a cheapskate) for their cell phone as those who have Iphones/Androids with their $65+/month plans.

On sales: I will say I can understand and respect any author who choses not to report sales and instead just reports sales rank. To end the 'small publisher/indie authors have little market share' we need the data, but it is up to the authors to share.

I'm floored and excited on how well several indie authors are doing this January. I thought December was amazing! I'm bummed to see Amanda down in the rankings at #5, but if Lisa Garner is willing to sell a book for a buck...

No worries Neil on the link. I don't doubt the story is true, and I agree many people take advantage of the pay as you go plans.

I was only questioning the idea of including cell phones in a person's entertainment budget. For most, I wouldn't even consider the cell phone as a discretionary budget item. I know many people who have eliminated their land line altogether, in favor of using a cell phone because it is more affordable.

@Sam - Thanks for your story. I don't have a Kindle as yet, but I did dl (a while ago) the Kindle app, and can read ebooks on my desktop at home. (I currently have only 1 at this moment.) But I'm keenly interested in all things 1930s/1940s, LOVED O Brother, Where Art Thou, and will pick up your ebook sometime soon (already in my Wish List).

Speaking as a writer who (by way of disclosure) has a very happy professional relationship with DAW Books, a division of Penguin... I find Sam's story very inspiring!

I am electronically self-publishing my backlist, and I have zero interest in ending my relationship with Penguin to self-publish my frontlist. I'm walking both sides of the street, so to speak.

And I think Sam's experience shows that the great benefit of the electronic self-publishing era is that there are MORE AVENUES for writers than there used to be. E-pubbing has opened a door to success for him that didn't exist five years go, while the traditional door remained closed to him despite his many perseverant attempts to get into it.

Good on him! And this is great news all around for everyone. For writers, at long last, there really IS more than one way to skin a cat now. (So to speak.)

after having risen to #50,in a steep climb that mighthave continued otherwise,the book's ranking insteadstarting _dropping,_ until-- when it fell to #200 --sam felt the need to step inand price it back at $.99...

so, to review, with a bookthat sold just 300 copiesin december (after selling5-20 in months before),january sales were 5,500.momentum was palpable.

sam raised the price andboom, lost his momentum.

now he has to climb back.

but he will never recovermomentum he had then.

i don't recommend $.99.because the "royalty" thatamazon pays for it is unfair.

i recommend $2.99 instead.even if you make fewer sales,and make less money, as aprotest against amazon's rate.

but kids, don't raise a pricein the middle of momentum.that babe can be very fickle.